I got my first keg from a beer store, whom I asked if they had any kegs I could buy outright. The keg they "sold" me was in really good condition, and only cost me $30. I'm looking to get a second brew kettle, and I feel like the way I got this first one was shady at best, considering the cost to the brewery to manufacture a keg.

What are some good sources that are on the level for obtaining a relatively low cost keg for kettle use?

3 Answers
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Tour as many of your local breweries as possible. Sometimes kegs get damaged with cracks in the neck area. I have asked in been offered to let me buy these types of kegs from this source in the past. Your local package store may offer you the same thing.

Supposedly, you can cruise local scrap yards for kegs. But the cost of stainless these days has largely cleaned scrap yards of kegs years ago I think.

As I posted in my comment to your question, if you ever get friendly with a distrubutor this is your best bet. These guys see the most turn over of kegs and if they have damaged ones you most likely to find it here. Although they are property of the host brewery, most distributors can't sell them per se either. Unless, the brewery and distributor have a keg managment agreement.

When I was considering this, I contacted my local microbrewery, Six Point in Red Hook, Brooklyn. They were very nice. One of the line managers got back to me within about a week and said he had two 50L kegs they'd pulled off the line with an eye to refurbishing them. He said he could give me one or both for $40 a piece. This was all totally above board.